Photographs by JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS
Curt Todd, a crime analyst for the Evansville Police Department, works out of his office in Evansville recently. Todd was nominated for a national contest by three officers and a civilian that could provide him with a new mobility van from the contest sponsored by the National Mobility Equipment Dealer Association in recognition of National Mobility month in May.

JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS
Curt Todd, a crime analyst for the Evansville Police Department, has to climb into his van before dismantling his manual chair and loading it up each time he enters his van outside of the Evansville Police Department Departments’s crime prevention office in Evansville. Todd says it is a process that is not a whole lot of fun in the rain and snow. Todd was nominated for a national contest by three officers and a civilian that could provide him with a new mobility van from the contest sponsored by the National Mobility Equipment Dealer Association in recognition of National Mobility month in March.

2013 Jason Clark

Todd has some of his medals on display in his office including the Evansville Police Department’s Purple Heart award which Todd hopes that no other officer will ever have to receive.

2013 Jason Clark

EVANSVILLE - If you talk to Curt Todd long enough, he'll admit eventually that he wants to win a national contest that would land him a much-needed mobility van.

But don't expect the 53-year-old Todd — a former Evansville police officer who was paralyzed while on the job in 1995 — to be campaigning on his own accord. In fact, he used words such as "reluctant" and "embarrassed" to describe his initial feelings toward the contest. After rehabilitation from his injury, Todd returned to the department as a crime analyst, a civilian position he still holds today.

"He would have never entered himself in this, and that's why I did it. Even after we entered he came back and said "I don't want to do this,'" said Evansville Police Sgt. Craig Jordan who nominated his longtime friend for the contest. "We had to talk him into doing this. Nathan (Schroer) finally, actually from his room at St. Mary's where he's at, told us to tell Curt, ‘Look, I'm in this with him, too. I want him to have this van,' and that made him feel better."

"Nathan" is Detective Nathan Schroer who is currently battling leukemia for a second time.

The contest, which is being held by the Tampa, Fla.- based National Mobility Equipment Dealer Association, is in recognition of National Mobility month, which is observed in May. Voting continues until May 10. Those nominees who are in the top 5 percent in terms of the number of votes received will have their stories reviewed by an independent panel of judges. The judges will then select three winners out of the pool of finalists. Each winner will receive a van customized for his or her specific needs.

This is the second year for the contest, and so far more than 800 people have been nominated. Voting is done online. Only one vote per IP address each day is allowed, but people can vote each day until the deadline. To vote in the contest, visit www.mobilityawarenessmonth.com/local-heroes. Voting started last month.

There are other entrants from around the Tri-State as well including William Pfingston, an Evansville resident who was injured in the tornado that tore through the area in November 2005. Todd said he's read through some of the stories of his fellow nominees and like his initial feelings toward the contest, humbly feels that there are more deserving candidates than him.

"There are individuals there who are in worse shape than I am," Todd said.

Todd was injured in on Jan. 17, 1995, when he responded to a call to assist a woman who had fallen in her bathroom and had gotten stuck. Todd and two firefighters spent two hours trying to get her unstuck, and Todd suffered ruptured blood vessels around his spinal cord during the incident while trying to lift the woman as well as furniture and other equipment during the rescue. He lost feeling in his legs within days of the rescue. He's been paralyzed from the waist down since.

Jordan called Todd a hard worker who could have just as easily chose to stay at home and live on his disability payments.

"Instead he chooses to work, Jordan said." "He chooses to stay in the profession that he chose as a career and the only way that he could stay is in a desk capacity,

Before Todd joined the police department in 1992, he served in the Marine Corps and also briefly worked in the Bureau of Federal Prisons. He was recognized last year for his efforts as a crime analysts with the Theodore Roosevelt Association Police Award.

During a ceremony for the award, former Police Chief Brad Hill said Todd "makes extraordinary contributions daily in his role as crime analyst (and) willingly shares his gifts, talents, keen-eye and expertise with others."

Jordan noted that Todd treated that recognition the same way he reacted to his current nomination.

"He's very humble. When he was nominated ... in 2012 it was kind of the same thing. He was like ‘There's people out there who more deserving than me,'" Jordan said.

Humbleness aside, Todd admits he hopes to win and would "appreciate anyone's vote" but has deemed such a victory a "long shot." The current van he has now is 13 years old and is only equipped with hand controls that he has to manually pull himself into.

"(That) worked fine 13 years ago," he said. "But now that I am getting ready to turn 54, it is beginning to get a lot more difficult to do that. It doesn't have a ramp or anything like that."

Todd said he knows he'll need a new vehicle in the near future, and has been saving up for a few years. However he doesn't believe he'd be able to afford a specially-equipped van without this contest. He said he believes a van equipped for his needs would cost between $40,000 and $50,000.

"I know I'm not going to be able to continue with what I've got now," Todd said. "I've been looking at two-door cars that may be big enough in the back. I've been looking for a while at some different possibilities."